Charlotte Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway was designed and built in 1959 by Chairman Emeritus and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee O. Bruton Smith. The late Curtis Turner, one of stock car racing’s earliest stars and another Hall of Fame inductee, served as Smith’s primary business partner.
Smith, a native of Oakboro, N.C., was an automobile dealer and short-track stock car racing promoter at Concord Motor Speedway and the Charlotte Fairgrounds. Turner, a Virginian who amassed his money in the lumber industry, became one of the first drivers on the NASCAR circuit after the sanctioning body debuted in 1949.
Together, they built their dream of a 1.5-mile superspeedway on the outskirts of the Queen City and, on June 19, 1960, the first World 600 was contested at the new facility.